Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids – Book Review

I’ve always viewed myself as my kids’ main teacher, even though they go to public schools. At 10, 12, and 14, they’ve passed the point of me helping with math or science homework. Now, I mainly fulfill my role through in-the-car lectures on a vast array of subjects. From dissecting why that particular building at that particular corner has housed six failed restaurants in their lifetimes to the social repercussions of “forgetting” to wear deodorant, this mama can talk. And talk and talk and talk. They love it.

But this book, 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids, is exactly the kind of thing I would have EATEN up when they were little. My friend, Kim Vij of The Educator’s Spin on It, is one of the authors, and she did an amazing job. The book is beautiful, y’all. And the games are truly so simple and creative and are perfect for keeping brains alive in the summer time!

I flipped through and immediately knew which activity I wanted to share with you.

We are so excited that we have two new cousins whom we met over the Memorial Day weekend! My cousin and his wife adopted the sweetest kids. They are aged three and seven. (Just the right ages for this book!)

The Family Word Puzzle activity was perfect to make for our new family members. I printed photos of the other five cousins and created puzzles with their names. They took home a fun game to play while they’re apart, and they can practice spelling with the names of their new best friends! Seriously, these new cousins fit so beautifully into our family.

Awesome idea, ridiculously easy to put together using scrapbook paper I was never going to actually scrapbook with, and fun enough to make the eyes of everyone at the lakehouse light up? That’s what I call success.

I gave the colorful, fun book to their mama to take home!

Check out Kim’s book on Amazon (through my affiliate link, of course). If your kids are older like mine, this book would be a great gift for a mom of kids aged 3-7.

This activity from the book 100 FUN & EASY LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS has been shared with permission from the publisher. I received a copy of the book.  

–Nony

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If you would like to find out more about how to keep your house tidy visit www.cleancarpetguru.com

As Soon as I’m Done, I Always Find One More Thing

It happens pretty much every time I declutter or straighten or whatever.

I think I’m done and I smile smugly and turn away from my totally finished project.

Only to run smack dab into One More Thing.

One more thing that needs to go in the spot I just filled as full as it can be before it morphs into a mess.

One more thing I can’t believe I didn’t see in all the time I was focusing on dealing with this space I truly believe I deserve to no longer have to deal with.

One more thing that makes me question whether my new “solution” will actually work, and whether there’s ever any point whatsoever in trying to come up with a solution since things like this happen to me every single time I think I’ve made progress.

Yes. I’m aware of my tendency to be over-dramatic.

But even though I initially reacted in the same old way, I used my hard-earned knowledge to deal with this problem.

I practiced the One In One Out Rule.

I’d found some old burp cloths that I now use as cleaning rags. Using them means they’re not clutter, y’know.

But the container for cleaning cloths was full. My auto-response was to pile them on anyway, tucking a corner in here or there and convincing myself they’d stay under control and not spill out everywhere.

My auto-response isn’t usually a good thing.

As soon as I realized what was happening, I took out enough of the microfiber cloths to make room for the burp cloths. That’s how one in one out works. I got to keep what I wanted to keep because I made room in the container by getting rid of things I didn’t love as much.

That’s the Container Concept.

That plastic box determined how many cleaning cloths I could keep. No analysis or math or hem-haw-pondering was necessary.

Yay for grasping concepts that once eluded me.

No idea what the Container Concept is? Here’s the post where I finally understood it:

Ooooh! “Contain”er … Now I Get It!

And a few more that might help:

Baskets? Oh. I get it now.

One In One Out

Containers and Limits and How They’ll Change Your Life – the podcast

One In One Out – Podcast

And … today’s affiliate links: Microfiber cloths, plastic shoe box sized containers.

–Nony

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If you would like to find out more about how to keep your house tidy visit www.cleancarpetguru.com

Keeping a Move-In Ready House Clean With Swiffer Giveaway!! (Sponsored post)

That’s me in the middle.

If you know who that is, you’re excited!

But you might also think something looks a little funny. Here’s the real picture:

Within moments of posting that photo, a friend edited it.

I met Jonathan Scott (and only Jonathan) at a Swiffer (and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser) event recently. (Remember, I’m a Swiffer ambassador this year.) He’s a spokesperson singing the praises of using Swiffer products to make it easier to keep things clean after a move. Here he is sharing his cleaning tips on video.

Y’all, he was so nice. Very funny, very excited to talk to anybody and everybody, and just generally fun.

Some of my favorite tips Jonathan (my friend Jonathan … ) shared that are perfect for those selling a house or moving into one (or anyone else, really):

If your hardware (drawer and cabinet pulls and handles) is in bad shape, clean it with a Magic Eraser. He says that many times, these pieces are just grimy and a good cleaning makes a huge difference.

Pay attention to the areas around doorknobs and lightswitches. They get nasty. Use a Magic Eraser to clean them off easily.

Use a Magic Eraser to easily remove stickers and their residue from the bottoms of coffee cups, etc.

OK. Now that I’ve written the tips I remember, I realize they’re all about Magic Erasers instead of Swiffer. But we all know how much easier cleaning is with Swiffer, right? If you’re not sure, see the other posts I’ve written as a Swiffer ambassador here and here.

And y’all, because I know how excited you get, I get to do ANOTHER Swiffer giveaway!!! Same old rules, but I’ll state them again.

You must comment on this post to be entered. (If you’re reading via email, click on the title of the post to get to the blog and leave a comment.) U.S. residents only. (Sorry!) One commenter will win. One comment per person. Prizes are provided by Swiffer, not me. I’ll use random.org to pick a comment number randomly. If (and this is the most important part) you are the winner, you MUST reply to my email within 48 hours of the time when I sent it. So pretty please, use an email address you check regularly. See all my giveaway policies here.

Here’s what’s included:

Swiffer Sweeper Small Box Starter Kit

Wet refills

Dry refills

Swiffer Duster

Duster refills

About a $50 value.

Yay! And happy commenting!!!

–Nony

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If you would like to find out more about how to keep your house tidy visit www.cleancarpetguru.com

Straightening Up the Dining Room Table (Because Better is Good)

There’s a difference between a ridiculously cluttered table and a table with stuff on it.

Even a table with too much stuff on it.

Oh. You don’t think there is? Well, it’s my blog and I say so. There is.

Oh the dining room table. The bane of my Slob Existence. The glorious flat surface just inside my front door that doesn’t HAVE to be used on an average Wednesday so it’s always available for absentminded (and sometimes present-minded) piling.

But even though this uniquely re-clutterable spot shouldn’t qualify as a real decluttering project since it’s everyday procrasticlutter, I tackle it using my same old decluttering strategies. When I can tackle it that way, I’m ever so much more willing to tackle it at all.

And tackling is the only way.

Step One:

Trash. Trash is the easiest of the easy stuff.

Once the trash was gone, I took the OBVIOUS stuff (which is ever so easy once I see it as individual items instead of a mass of overwhelming STUFF) where it goes. No decisions necessary. Just a bunch of duhs. A bunch of well-yeah-I-know-where-that-goes kind of stuff.

Then, the piles were smaller, but I wasn’t quite in the mood for a solve-it-all kind of thing, so I settled.

I settled for better. My goal was to be able to let someone in the front door and have them think, “Oh, I just love how Dana didn’t feel the need to clean before I came over. We must be close. Like, almost BFFs. I sure like Dana.”

So I consolidated and straightened. A little.

It’s better, y’all. Better is good.

Note: If you came over and it looked like that, we’re BFFs. Really. This post wasn’t talking about you.

Another note: Obviously, it didn’t even occur to me to straighten the frames on the wall. Sorry OCD friends, but you get what you get when you venture to my Slob Blog.

–Nony

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If you would like to find out more about how to keep your house tidy visit www.cleancarpetguru.com

How to Remove Hairy, Scary Dust Bunnies from a Broom Without Touching Them

Dust bunnies happen.

Especially with wood floors.

Hairy ones happen, especially in our family of hairy people.

They stick to the end of the broom and won’t come off into the dust pan like I totally think they should.

So, I bend the broom as flat on the floor as possible, and vacuum them off. Yay for no need to touch them.

Or, if I’m wearing shoes (which I pretty much never am at home), I step on the bunnies (the DUST bunnies, people, I’m not a monster) and pull the broom so they come off. That mostly works, but sometimes they reattach to the broom when I then try to sweep them onto the dustpan.

Touching them? Not an option.

Affiliate links to things mentioned in this post:

My vacuum which I totally love. (that link is to a newer version, as I can’t find the exact one, probably because I’ve had it for 14 years)

An angled broom and dust pan.

Dust-related posts:

What Flat Surfaces are Really For

(Lame) Excuse: “But I Don’t Enjoy Washing Candles … “

How to Dust Kitchen Kitsch – Easy Spring Cleaning Tasks

Sweeping-related posts:

No Dustpan? No Excuses!

The Real Reason I Have to Sweep Everyday

–Nony

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If you would like to find out more about how to keep your house tidy visit www.cleancarpetguru.com

Moving Stress – How Clutter Doesn’t Help

Hubby is moving to a new office after 11 years.

11 years in one place means there’s clutter to deal with. As the wife, I’ve been helping. Strangely, though, he doesn’t seem to value my decluttering expertise the way someone else might.

I’ve mostly been trying to be supportive. Just being there as he goes through things and offering opinions when he asks for them.

The main thing I’ve encouraged him to do? Don’t make assumptions about piles (or entire drawers) full of things you assume are ALL sentimental things.

The most obvious decluttering advantage that moving provides is the opportunity to purge on two sides. Purge as we pack and purge as we unpack.

But it’s just so tempting to assume we know what’s in a pile or a drawer and blindly pack it up. He opened a file drawer and said, “Oh, this is all sentimental stuff from years past. Gifts and cards and things.”

Have I mentioned that he tends to be more sentimental than me?

I told/encouraged him to go ahead and look at things as he put them in the moving box because he might find things that aren’t sentimental. The more he can go ahead and trash those things, the less he’ll have to pack, move, and deal with on the other end as he unpacks.

He was surprised to find that there was quite a bit that he didn’t even remember, or that didn’t bring up any emotion and he could purge easily.

Yay for having less to move.

But y’all, this office-packing experience has me in full-on dread of his eventual retirement. Because there’s a wholotta stuff that looks cool and interesting and quirky in his office but I have no place for in my home. It may not be as breezy of a conversation when we pack up that office.

I’m grateful there’s no need for a stopping place between offices. The stuff can go straight to its new home, even if it can’t be unpacked immediately.

But that brings me to a good place to mention my new partnership with SpareFoot.com. I’m a spokesperson for them, and they’re all about moving right now. This time (end of May, beginning of June) is officially moving season, and it’s the time of year when more Americans move than at any other time.

If you’re moving and have some up-in-the-air-no-place-to-dump-your-stuff time between homes (or offices), check out their tool for finding the best price and coolest features on storage options near you.

SpareFoot conducted a survey specifically about moving and clutter, and (as a chronic clutter discusser) I thought the results were interesting.

And oh my, haven’t we had all of these discussions here on the blog:

Does the thought of moving inspire you to declutter, or does it completely overwhelm you? 

–Nony

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If you would like to find out more about how to keep your house tidy visit www.cleancarpetguru.com